Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is a state in Southern India. In 2014, it was split in two, with the northwestern half becoming the new state of Telangana.

Andhra Pradesh on map of India

Regions

Northern Coast (comprises the districts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam)

Southern Coast (comprises the districts of Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam and Nellore)

Rayalaseema (comprises the districts of Chittor, Anathapur, Cuddapah and Kurnool)

Cities

Here are some of the most notable cities.

• 🌍 Amaravati — the new capital of Andhra Pradesh which covers the areas that has Buddhist sites.
• 🌍 Anantapur — a city well connected by road and rail with city and nearby attractions
• 🌍 Guntur — home to many ancient and archeaological sites and temples
• 🌍 Kurnool — the headquarters of the district and the site of Konda Reddy Fort
• 🌍 Nellore — the region has a combination of religion, nature and history
• 🌍 Rajahmundry — known as a cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh, Rajahmundry is noted for its versatile Vedic culture and intellectualism
• 🌍 Tirupati — has a sacred temple situated on the Tirumala Hills
• 🌍 Vijayawada — the third largest city in Andhra Pradesh
• 🌍 Visakhapatnam — most attractive city in Andhra Pradesh, with exotic resorts near beaches

Other destinations

• 🌍 Araku Valley — Araku valley offers scenic beauty of the hills and greenery, interspersed with streams and rivulets
• 🌍 Belum Caves — a network of natural underground caves in shale/slate rock partly explored
• 🌍 Horsley Hills — a hill station and summer residence of British governors
• 🌍 Kalikiri — a scenic town with several temples and hills offering trekking opportunities
• 🌍 Kanipakam — a temple of Sri Ganesh
• 🌍 Mantralayam — a temple of Sri Raghavendra Swamy
• Papikonda National Park (Kishkindha) — located in East Godavari and West Godavari includes such mammals as tigers, leopards ,sambar and spotted deer, bison and others. Reachable by boat from Rajahmundry
• Pulicat Lake — second largest brackish water lake in India
• 🌍 Puttaparthi — village and home of the guru Sathya Sai Baba
• Simhachalam — abode of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha swamy
• Sri Venkateswara National Park — a park and biosphere reserve noted for its many waterfalls
• 🌍 Sriharikota — a barrier island which houses India's only satellite launch center
• 🌍 Srikalahasti — one of the ancient places of Hindu pilgrimage and the site of the ancient Lord Shiva temple
• 🌍 Srisailam — one of the Jyothir Linga Temples (Lord Shiva)
• Umamaheswaram — ancient temple, a gateway to Srisailam

Understand

Andhra Pradesh lies in the south eastern region of India, with Bay of Bengal on the east and shares boundaries with Telangana on the north, Odisha (formerly known as Orissa) on the north-east, Tamil Nadu on the south and Karnataka on the west. Andhra Pradesh has a rich cultural heritage and is known for its rich history, architecture and culture. Andhra Pradesh has a variety of tourist attractions including beaches, hills, wildlife, forests and temples.

Climate

Weather is hot for the most part of the year with high humidity along the coast and relatively dry in the interior areas. The monsoons in June and the return monsoons in October provide adequate rain fall for the rain dependent agriculture in the state. The best time to visit is November till February when it's relatively cooler. The hottest months are April, May and June.

Talk

Telugu is the official language and is spoken by the majority of the populace. However, most educated people will also be able to speak Hindi and English.

Like most South Indians, Telugu people are very protective of their language and culture, and will respond more readily to English than to Hindi.

English is widely spoken in major cities. Minimal knowledge of Telugu is extremely useful, though not essential.

Get in

By plane

Visakhapatnam has the busiest airport in the state, which is also the only one with with international flights. Vijayawada and Tirupati also have moderately busy airports that handle domestic traffic (although IndiGo will start serving Singapore through Vijayawada soon).

For intercontinental connections, however, the biggest airports of neighboring states are the best bet.

By train

There are many incoming trains to areas in Andhra Pradesh from the rest of India.

Get around

By train

There are trains to most parts of Andhra Pradesh.

By bus

You can also get around by bus. You can find information on long-distance government buses on Apsrtc, while some private travel agents are Redbus, Abhibus, MyTicketBuddy, and Makemytrip.

Learn

• Carnatic music - Carnatic music is born in the rich Telugu language
• Kuchipudi dance - one of the world famous classical dance forms of India.

See

• Hourseleehills (Yenugu Mallamma Konda) — Scenic beauty of hills and trees. Environmental park and the Horsley Hills Museum
• Kaalahasthi — a holy town with site of Srikalahasti Gopuram (Srikalahsti Temple)
• Kanipakam — Site of the great lord Ganapathy Temple
• Lepakshir — Historically and archaeologically significant with shrines and renowned for its repository of mural paintings
• Narayanmavanam — considered a holy city with many temples
• Penukonda — Summer capital of Vijayanagar emipre - Forts and temples built by Sri Krishnadevaraya king.
• SriKrishna Devaraya University, Ananthapur — named after a patron of learning and the arts, Sri Krishnadevaraya
• Srisailam — played a dominant role in Indian religious, cultural and social history. Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple is located here
• Talakona — a beautiful 82-metre waterfall in Nerabailu Village, Chittoor District. Near the waterfall are dense forests and wide varieties of wildlife.
• Tirupathi — Most famous for its Sri Venkateswara Temple dedicated to Vishnu
• Vijayawada (aka Bezawada) — home of Kanakadurga Temple and Subramanya Swamy Temple and other important sites
• Vishakapathnam Port — one of the largest ports in India

Do

Eat

Like almost every other state in India, Andhra Pradesh has a rich variety of cuisines and change widely from region to region. Telugu cuisine, the cuisine of Andhra Pradesh, is based mostly on regional variation, its rich cultural heritage and the influence of the royal recipes from the Nawabs. The cuisine of Andhra Pradesh is mixed between Hindu and Muslim styles.

Breakfast

• Idli is a steamed cake commonly eaten for breakfast with sambar or chutney. Chili powder (kaarampodi) and ground nut (peanut) chutney are also common additions.
• Dosa (minapattu) is another popular snack. Andhra-style dosas are spicier and crispier than those found in other regions of South India.
• Pesarattu is a flatbread similar to a dosa, but thin and crispy. It is eaten with a ginger chutney. MLA Pesarattu is a popular variation of pesarattu filled with spices.

Meals

A typical meal in Telugu cuisine consists of a combination of cooked rice, pickles (pachadi), dal (pappu), curry, yogurt (perugu) or buttermilk (majjiga), and papadum (appadam). Chewing paan, a somewhat narcotic mixture of betel leaves and areca nut, is also a common practice after meals. Lunch and dinner are elaborate affairs in many households. In traditional households, the meal is served on arati aaku, a single plantain leaf, or vistari, a larger plate made of several leaves sewn together. Recently, more people have begun using broad steel plates called kancham. However, arati aaku and vistari are still widely used for festivals and special events. Lunch and dinner items are served on a single plate in a specific arrangement. Pappu (dal) and curries are placed to the right of the diner, while pickles and podi are placed on the left. Special items such as pulihora (tamarind rice/lemon rice) and garelu (vada) are placed at the top right. A large scoop of rice is placed in the middle. Small amounts of pulusu, sambar, rasam, ghee and buttermilk are typically sprinkled onto the leaf. The ghee is mixed with every item except perugu (curd)/majjiga (buttermilk).

Curries

• Vepudu — crispy fried vegetables, typically including okra (bendakaya), ivy gourd (dondakaya), potato (bangaladumpa), and colocasia.
• Kaaram Petti Koora/Koora Podi Koora — sautéed vegetables cooked with curry powder or paste, served as a solid mass. The vegetables can be stuffed with curry powder or paste and are usually cooked whole.
• Pulusu Koora/Aava Petti Koora — boiled vegetables cooked in tamarind sauce and mustard paste.
• Pappu Koora — boiled vegetables stir-fried with a small amount of half-cooked lentils (dal).

Other gravy based curries are chiefly made with vegetables cooked in tomato sauce and onion with coriander and cumin powder.

Daal

• Pappu - toor daal (kandi pappu) or moong daal (pesara pappu) cooked with a vegetable or green. No masala is added to the dal. Some regions include garlic and onion in the seasoning while some regions prefer asafetida (hing/Inguva). Some times the cooked version of the dal is replaced with a roast and ground version of the dal like Kandi pachadi (roasted toor daal ground with red chiles) and pesara pachadi (soaked moong daal ground with red chillies or green chillies).

Pickles

Pachadi/Ooragaya - There are two broad varieties - Pachadi (chutney) and Ooragaya. Pachadi is typically made of vegetables or greens and roasted green/ red chillies. It is prepared fresh and is consumed within a day or two. Ooragaya is prepared in massive amounts seasonally and uses liberal amounts of chilli powder, methi (fenugreek) powder, mustard powder and oil. For a typical Andhrite, no meal is complete without this very essential item. It is consumed on its own mixed with rice or is also eaten as a side dish with pappu / koora.

Pulusu (sour)

is a curry-like stew that is typically sour and cooked with tamarind paste. Other common bases are tomatoes or mangoes. The mixture can be flavored with mustard, chilies, curry leaves, jaggery, onions, or fenugreek. Fish, chicken, and eggs are typical meat additions. Pachi Pulusu is an unheated version of pulusu typically made of mangoes or tamarind consumed during warm months.

Perugu — The last item of the meal. Perugu (curd) is normally consumed with an accompaniment like pachadi or ooragaya.

• Challa Pulusu/Majjiga pulusu — sour buttermilk boiled with channa dal and coconut paste
• Menthi Challa/Menthi Majjiga — sour buttermilk seasoned with ginger and green chili paste and menthi seeds fried in oil.

Hyderabadi biryani

The former capital city, Hyderabad, is known for its world famous Hyderabadi biryani (spiced rice) and one would do very well to savor it.

The Guntur/Vijayawada region is known for extremely spicy dishes. Rice is the staple food and is eaten pretty much with every meal along with a variety of vegetable and meat curries.

Drink

• lime juice with ginger
• lime juice with honey
• fresh fruit juices

like sapota, orange(green they call mosambi in hindi exclusively), grape, pineapple

• ready juice

Sleep

There is a variety of accommodation available. There are cheap hotels, known as lodges because hotels are generally understood to be eating places. There are private hotels as well as government-operated guest houses called Punnami Hotels.

Stay safe

Please conserve water and try to cut down use of plastics. In extreme summers avoid travelling in afternoons. Always carry a mobile phone and always keep emergency numbers like 100 for police, 101 for fire and ambulance and 104 for health emergency with you.

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